“But he had this uncanny ability to accurately sense how air molecules reacted over a surface before he even built the models.” “Most people have to see through testing how air moves on a model,” Roy Harris, former aeronautics director at Langley, told the Washington Post in Whitcomb’s 2009 obituary. Later dubbed “the man who could see air” by the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Magazine, Whitcomb took an unconventional approach to aerodynamics, eschewing calculations in preference of visualization and intuition. He called it the “supercritical” airfoil. However, he was still working to improve flight efficiency at speeds approaching that barrier, now with a seemingly counterintuitive wing design, almost the inverse of what were then conventional wings. Sixteen years earlier, this Langley Research Center aeronautics engineer had received the 1954 National Aeronautic Association’s Collier Trophy, considered the most prestigious honor in aviation, for doing more than any other single person to overcome the aviation challenge of the day-the so-called sound barrier. Whitcomb was already something of a star in the aviation world. By the time he was visiting what is now known as Armstrong Flight Research Center to witness the first tests of his latest creation, Richard T.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |